2nd Half Comeback | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

amen remain standing I give honor amen to our senior pastor to our first lady to our pastoral team to all of our elders who who bless us in this church as leaders as pillars to look up to to all the ministry to our missionaries that are here today amen I give I give them honor today and I'm so so thankful to be in the house alone with the greatest people in all of the world and doesn't it look good I feel like we're finally getting almost back to where we left off in in March and I'm excited just to be able to worship together and I believe that God is going to protect us through this this season that we're in I want you with turn with me to Joshua chapter 24 I want to start in verse number 14 is read a couple verses in your hearing and then I want to go into Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13 going to quickly go gonna quickly proceed into that scripture in the New Testament but Joshua 24 says this is now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in faithfulness put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt and serve the Lord and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord choose this day whom you will serve whether the gods your father served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the amorite sand whose lands you dwell and this is something this is a famous saying we say all the time around here but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord and in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13 says brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do here's the key word forgetting forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus I I want to preach in your hearing tonight simply this thought the second half come back the second half come back what does just lift up your hands to heaven right now let's pray over this word father we love you father we need you in this place tonight we need your power Lord the same power that we felt when the worship team was leading us in the worship the same power we felt through prayer service the same power we felt oh god as pastor Lord brought the word Lord straight from the voice of a father but we need you in this house or once again Lord anoint your word tonight Lord speak through my lips Lord use me Lord as a vessel as an instrument Lord that you can minister to the multitudes at one time in Jesus name Lord I'll thank you for it I'll give you praise for alcohol if I you're for it oh God if in this altar service somebody responds to your word and makes a change in their life come on if you believe that God can do it come on watch you clap your hands there's nothing impossible for God there's nothing that's too hard for the Lord amen you may be seated your victory tomorrow will be the result of your adjustments today I'm saving again your victory tomorrow you may not get victory right today you might not feel you might not walk out this place feeling any different than the way you walked in but if you make some adjustments today I promise you it will affect your tomorrow and victory will be in your future well we have had the craziest year so far in history or at least in my lifetime and I've spoken I've got some neighbors that that live across the street from me that I get to talk to that on attend church here but I get to talk to them and I begin to ask him the other day I said tell me I said you've lived a lot longer here on earth and I have tell me have you ever have you ever experienced what we're experiencing today and in the year 2020 he said I promise you up in through Wars I have never ever experienced what we're facing in this day I asked Surrey I picked up my iPhone and your iPhones might respond right now I'm sorry hey Siri that was not serious sir I said I said what day is the midpoint the halfway point of the 20/20 calendar year and to my absolute amazement in shock Surrey told me the very date that I was asking her I was standing there my wife I said you are not gonna believe this and matter of fact I had to I had to exit out and go to my calendar to make sure that it was really the day I thought it was and I looked at I said oh my word today I looked at my wife and I today is the exact middle day no sleepier so it's probably different than other years but but today not today but the day that I asked her was the exact day of the halfway point of 2020 and I felt I felt the Spirit of God it was at that very moment I felt the Lord speak to me and he said I don't know if there's any better time than right now to make some resolutions and to make some changes and even say you know what oh my god I I began to think about I thought you know a lot of times we wait until January first to make new year's resolutions but if you're living with me in 2020 we cannot wait until January first 20 twenty-one to make some new changes in our life we've got to do something today because I don't want the second half of the year to be anything like the first half of the year we thought we were all we thought it'd be catchy you know our theme for 2020 was 2020 vision we thought of that that's catchy old 2020 vision I saw about every conference that I saw that I thought I saw promoted that was the theme 2020 vision but no one saw I don't care how good your vision is or was no one saw what was about to take place in the United States of America I've been told that 2020 is the new term for crazy you all heard that for example if you're like me and you like to people watch and I love to people watch up in Gatlinburg about a month ago I was sitting outside of Ripley's Believe It or Not and I looked at a guy and if I would have known what the new term for crazy was I would have used it I would have said I would have looked at my family member that was sitting beside me I would have said I don't know about you but that guy looks a little 2020 to me matter of fact he might have escaped out of Ripley's I don't know where people come from to go to Gatlinburg I don't I don't know if you're here today and you're from Gatlinburg it's not you I'm talking about it some people that visit Gatlinburg crazy trach right what's going on in the first half of the year well we've had a political party of Congress impeach our president we had an NBA legend Kobe Bryant died in a freak helicopter accident köppen 19 pandemic with ventilator shortages and toilet paper shortages and quarantine an economic shutdown we've had our church doors closed we've had to celebrate Easter in my lifetime in probably any lifetime in this place we've never had to celebrate Easter from our homes there was a killing the horrific killing of George Floyd riots and demonstrations that follow the defunding of police began his storage statues are pulled down in cities all across America a Sahara dust cloud crosses the ocean it takes over our skies how much worse get 20 20 kid well I don't know now they're talking about that they've run into a coin shortage and now a lot of stores are only accepting credit cards they're not even taking any other kind of currency anymore besides credit aah I don't know but it's halftime and we've somehow limped our way into the locker room and I've heard it said that the difference between a good team and a great team is determined by their halftime adjustments and I'm here to preach about the second half adjustments you see every coach has a pregame plan every coach goes into a game with a pregame plan they have a set of plays they they have a set of offense and a set defense and that they feel is gonna best defeat their opponent but it's the halftime adjustments that are gonna make or break you whether you win the game or you lose the game because of failed pregame can be fixed at halftime if you've got the right coach in the right players that receive the instruction of the coach the second-half comebacks are the results of good halftime adjustments I'm going to say that again second-half comebacks are the results of good halftime adjustments there there there have been too many to count over the last century of NCAA football but there is one halftime adjustment that Trump's them all I'm reading from an article a single move whose ripple effect is still being felt across college football it's the biggest one in history says Louisiana head coach Billy nappy er him changing quarterbacks and by now you know the story a thing of legends with his team trailing Georgia 13 to 0 in the national championship game in January of 2018 Nick Saban replaced his seasoned salt for starting quarterback with an unproven true freshman a move that sparked the Crimson Tide to his historic second-half rally in a 26 to 23 overtime win and I don't mean to harm or hurt any of our Georgia Bulldog fans I love our Georgia Bulldog fans I see some of y'all smiling in the crowd and I'm a Georgia fan I am after Tennessee I love George I followed Georgia I get on the bandwagon my brother-in-law's a big Georgia fan I just get right on the bandwagon because we in Tennessee don't have too many winning seasons so I enjoy I enjoy following Georgia but that was the riskiest move ever made by a coach in a national championship game because Alabama was only down they were down by less than two touchdowns and his seasons quarterback may he could have brought the team back let's face it they weren't down by 40 points it wasn't like he he was just giving up and going for another quarterback they were only down by 13 points and somehow coach Salmons said you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna mix things up a little bit I'm gonna see what it did is it messed up the defensive coordinator for the Georgia Bulldogs because there was nothing there was no pregame plan for a freshman quarterback to come in the game unless the seasoned quarterback had been injured and taken out of the game they understood that the seasoned sophomore quarterback was going to play the whole game because that's all that makes sense when your coach and n-c-double-a football in the final game you don't try out unceasing freshman quarterback you leave your seasoned quarterback at the point but somehow Alabama and somehow they made one adjustment then messed up the game enough for the opposing team that they came back in overtime and they won the game so I want to move on because speaking of poor first-half performances I don't know about you but but I've had some poor first-half performances I don't want to point my finger too quickly and anybody else because I too have fumbled some of the easiest handoffs I've thrown some of the most ignorant interceptions in a score today may reflect failures of yesterday but it's not too late to make some halftime adjustments right now we are halfway through the year of 2020 and if we're gonna turn some things around in our lives and listen some of your thinking well it's not just 2020 that I'm dealing with some of you are dealing with a lifetime and you've come up to the halftime and you're sick and tired of being where you've been and you're ready to goals I'm ready for it a second half I'm ready for a second half comeback for the Holland I'll take just a little bit more Mike I'm ready for a second half comeback I don't know how your your your personal 2020 has been your whole life might be a little 2020 if you know what I mean you got to stop thinking about loss yardage in your first half you got to stop sitting on the bench and mourn over every truck pass huh and every missed field goal in the first half but we gotta make some adjustments tonight they will turn our life around and as long as we focus on the first half failures we're gonna continue to lose well into the second half because of memories listen to me tonight show some memories is what the enemy uses and brings back into your mind to confuse you in the second half to make you remember the things that you did wrong in the first half I'm talking about dumb things things that you had no business missing easy as suppose that you that she should have kicked and you've kicked a thousand times and you've never missed what you missed this one I'll talk about things in your life that everybody told you not to go there but you still went there everybody told you not to marry him but just still married him everybody told you not to date her but you're still dated her I'm talking about easy mistakes things that you should have saw I'm talking about you should have saw light years away but somehow it caught up with you and somehow everything that we've reached we begin to sow in his some memories that is the greatest weapon the enemy uses against the child of God it's the voice of the enemy it's always reminded it's always playing footage of the first half it's that game reel that keeps on turning in our mind it's the game film we keep on watching over and over and over again what if I should I uh what if I did it differently how could have been better and the devil loves to come into the church and try to condemn and accuse the Brethren you've had a poor first half performance you gotta move on and leave behind the memories of your past I love Philippians 4 and a because it says finally I like that word finally and that's kind of turning the page finally brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things then it says in verse 9 those things these things those things would she have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do in the God of peace shall be with you o friends let me let me preach this for a moment let me go into the New Testament just for a moment Apostle Paul I know your first half was named as Saul but you've been given a name change you don't have to live in your first half anymore Paul you don't have to be who you used to be Romans 7:18 Paul is struggling with his first half he and the voices are in his head and he says for I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do now if I do that I would not it is no more than do it but sin that dwelleth in me I find in Allah then when I would do good evil is present with me can anybody testify with this right here for I delight in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law in my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members first twenty sources o wretched man that I am told he's looking at his first half Oh Richard man that I am Who Shall deliver me from the body of this death and then he says I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin you have right here Paul wrestling within himself between his spiritual man who wants to do right who knows to do right and with the sinful members with those voices in his head that's worried against the very soul and spirit that is within him I want you to know Paul you don't have to think back to your first half when you were persecuting the Christians and you were putting Christians the dead to death I don't want you to think back on those terms but I want you to remember your half time when you were riding you know I came out of heaven it's smoochy you off the very animal that you sat alone when he smote you off the animal you set up you were blinded and you said Lord and Jesus said I am Jesus whom you persecute and he said I want you to go to my man of God I want you to go to the Prophet and I want the Prophet to pray for you and we know the rest of the story he was filled with the mighty Holy Ghost he was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins and he stepped into a second half and once you know he was the greatest missionary this ever walks planet earth in a fateful then he didn't get stopped on his first test but he understood if I could just get past half time if I could just come up with a game plan if I could just come up with some X's and O's they don't get me top century I'll do whatever I gotta do to make a second-half comeback you may be seated Rahab hold dear Rahab I know you used to be a harlot but but now you've been given a new identity don't live in your first half don't live in your first half I want to minister to somebody tonight then maybe in your childhood you were abused as a young child whether is physically or sexually or verbally you were abused as a young child I want you to know that Rahab the harlot it's not in the word but I can almost guarantee you something happened in her childhood that caused her to become a harlot because I've never asked a teenage girl what are your dreams in place I've never heard of teenage girls say I want to be a harlot that's not what happens it's when they're abused as a child and things start messing up in their minds and they start getting caught in their sin there and they never make it past half time but Rahab oh sweet Rahab we might know you as Rahab the harlot but Rahab if it wasn't for you you brought the spies into your home and you are not the spies of the children of Israel to escape out your window and because they escaped out your window there was a great battle one for God and not only was there a great battle one for God but Rahab was the savior of her own family so if you're sitting here today and you got a messed up first half that wasn't even your fault somebody did something to you and you can never get it back let me tell you something you can make some halftime adjustments tonight and you can make up in your mind I refuse to allow their job to upset my future I refuse to lose this game based on some performance of somebody else in my first but I choose to make a difference I choose to press on I choose to ignore the voices in my mind and I choose life in victory somebody's clap your hands after the Holy Ghost in this house tonight say what you want you may be seated say what you want about Rahab the harlot but she is mentioned in faiths Hall of Fame she's put right there with the other great faithful Paul Hebrews chapter 11 read it it's beautiful it's beautiful when it BA goes through people that had messed up first half's but they made halftime adjustments and they became comeback kings and comeback queens in the second half what about Israel here's where I know he used to be a deceiver in your first half I know you used to be a sir planter in your first half but your name's been changed in your second half no longer do you try to have to try to explain to people when people say what's your name well my name is I'm sorry what'd you say my name is hey no longer are you ashamed because in the Old Testament their name was a name they meant that you just see people around you in the Old Testament but I'm so thankful for a name change we're no longer did Jacob have to be ashamed of who he was but in the second half he made a comeback and all of a sudden he was named Israel and when he was named Israel he was the father of a nation that still is alive and well today in the Middle East and I'm so thankful that Israel is still alive and well in the Middle East if you agree with me why don't you put your hands together oh god bless Israel god bless the land of Israel what about Cephas pastor preach about this a small lot Cephas the rock I know you may be facing some fear in your life I know you just got through denying Jesus three times you just cursed up you just turn then disgust at your own self you like boldness you like faithfulness you like honesty but that's just your first half performance but it's half time now and every fumble it doesn't have to affect you every interception does not have to affect you every missed field goal does not have to affect you because Simon Peter because Cephas you are about to be the first pastor of the first church you're about to get up on the day of Pentecost and you're about to preach the salvation message don't give up don't give up don't give up I know I know sometimes it's hard I know sometimes it's hard to walk the walk and talk the talk but if you could just hold on till halftime if you can just get to the resurrection of Jesus if you just see your Savior when they'll start hands and they'll start seeing if you can just see a risen Savior everything's gonna be all right Peter you're gonna be in an upper room and Jesus is gonna present himself to you don't give up it's almost halftime what kind of adjustments are you gonna make during your halftime speaking of halftime I I found a very interesting sports article called three mistakes coaches make it half done it's by a writer and also a coach named Chris four he says halftime is crucial I'm gonna read this article he said I really think that more games are won and lost during those 15 minutes that teams spin off the field than most people really even know what separates the good programs from the great programs is how they use those 15 minutes during the 2011 season I was in between jobs and and I had a year off from coaching and it was a tremendous it was tremendous for my career because I was able to go watch a whole bunch of football coaches do their thing that I had never seen before I worked part time for a newspaper that season covered games and writing stories about the games and he said it was fascinating being on the other side and when he means the other side is he's usually the coach that's talking to the players and and now he's on the other side because he's hearing the coach talk to the players he said what I found out about halftime was pretty interesting I was really surprised at the lack of organization that I saw in about half the programs I covered that year I asked the coaches permission to be in the locker room just a watch not to report here are three mistakes I saw coaches make that year during halftime number one coaches let emotions control their halftime meeting I saw coaches absolutely light their teams up with yelling and screaming it was usually very ineffective I get it this is a passionate game an emotional one at that but ask any of my players and I can tell you with the best of them because I'm a loud dude but one thing I've learned over the years there is a time in a place to yell how effective is it to yell at your team when they know they messed up how much help will it do when they already feel awful it's like passing back tests when kids have failed and then yelling at them for failing when they can clearly see the F on the paper most of the time they just get it coaches yelling at your team for one third of a half-time will usually have zero effect on the second half sure you might feel better but are you sincerely helping the team the Orani jail when our Christian Academy y'all this is saddle I'm about to tell you when our Christian Academy was in an all apostolic conference I'm looking out at players that played during that time years ago I've never seen so many coaches breaking clipboards kicking chairs dents and lockers in the locker room kicking score tables I've not seen that in the lead that we're in now it wasn't you matter of fact I don't think that church is even apostolic anymore but that's beside the point but I have never seen now now let me preface that was not our coach's oh no sir that wouldn't help allowed in our Academy but I watch this go on and it blew my mind I'm talked about hearing words from coaches that shocked me screaming at their player they were screaming at our players they're screaming at their own players just absolutely just I mean the the hatred there was kind of the mouse anybody remember that alumni smile I got some teachers of Vollmer teachers now it was entertaining to us on the bleachers special especially when we saw that that that ref putting him up and we knew we got to two shots and in the ball back but that's that's that's not how you do it I got to thinking Laura I'm thankful though we're not in a church tonight that has leadership that preaches in that manner now I'm gonna preface but but watch his wrath I'm going back to football you know football coach unless you have one of these halftime they go around the neck give me the playbook did you scoot your chair this way sir Turner can you imagine if Churchill's like this what are you doing is that how you were raised how in the world do you even consider yourself a Christian do you even pray do you actually think that you can have a relationship with a God that you don't talk to look at the first quarter how often do you read your Bible how often do you fast how often do you intercede when you pray look at this second quarter look at these numbers in a second do you even bring your tithes into the storehouse do you think that that belongs to you do you understand why you can't be blessed do you understand that you're nothing but a thief and a robber you are a god robber when's the last time you invited somebody to church you want to be ashamed of yourself when's the last time you taught a Bible study you want to be ashamed of yourself are you really expecting a Sunday school teacher to teach your children about God what kind of father are you you really expect a new youth pastor's wife just show your daughter how to dress what kind of mother are you do you really think that you can somehow sole a lifestyle of sin and reap a lifestyle of blessings I don't think so you sure get alone that from your pasta you make me sick you can talk to your kids like that and you're gonna find them rebellion over time because we understand their rules without relationship leads to rebellion every single time even though every single one of the things that I said was true there's a way to say it and there's a way not to say it and I just role play with brothers old because he doesn't have a problem in any of those areas so I could bring him up there but god help us we should have to be talked to like dogs in order to wake up and realize it's a plan of God in our life we should have tents somebody come up here and preach until until the very tall nails fall off our feet because we've been stupid that shouldn't have to happen there's a way to do it right and a way to do it wrong I thank God for Christian school teachers who keeps with love they don't teach with hatred they don't try to tell our kids you're a bunch of losers we don't have coaches that are talking down to our children but we have a staff at this church we got a passel team at this church who wants to uplift you may be seated but let me tell you this because number two number two's important too because number two in this article on mistakes coaches make at half time coaches number two coaches failed to make any real adjustments that mattered so you have some coaches yelling and screaming and and belittling players to where they don't even want to get out of the locker room because of what they've been told but then you have the next set of coaches it's all rhetoric such as we just got to play some ball that's true somebody needs to step up it's true come on guys we need some more heart it's true but those are not X's and O's you're not training you're not teaching you're not coaching we don't need a pulpit that is just a good old boy system either well we don't we don't want to abuse you from the pulpit but we also we don't want a bunch of spiritual rhetoric is what I like to call it God wants to bless you where you are now these aren't real quotes y'all I I got these I want to tell you who's they're from plays a pastor of a really big church he said I I don't think that same-sex marriage is the way God intended it to be same God said you may make some mistakes but that doesn't matter it doesn't make you a sinner because you've got the very nature of God inside of you if we're not careful this whole come as you are and stay as you are can bleed into the ministry pastor you preached about it for the Hammond brother Nolan you all preached about a last Sunday if we're not careful we could be more into tickling people's ears some people they go to church once on Sunday just so they can check it off the list of I did my spiritual act for the weekend and now I can return back to who I really am and that's not what God's church is made of either god is not a bully in heaven he's not a he's not an old man with a big stick trying to see who he can hit in the head he's not that kind of God but he's not a pushover either he's still a God that hates sin he's still a God that hates the very appearance of sin oh jesus help us oh god I don't want to just preach rhetoric over this pulpit Renard that makes people feel good and tickles people's fancies but all godly I want to preach truth from this pulpit it will reach lies it will change lives it will cause people the ones who are in a miry clay of sinner to be set up just stay a firm foundation the gospel shut up haha I bleed tonight somebody's in this place huh you don't need to be screamed at you don't need to be yelled at he'll be told you're a sinner you just gotta be lifted up and said I believe in you I believe that you can walk out of this locker room and you can make a difference in your community you can make a difference in your school every high school student you will be praying to God every day God make me a difference oh god in my school let me get it a lunch table let me teach your Bible study Lord put a Bible study in my head I'll do whatever you told me to do you may be seen I'm gonna rush through you see Joshua would have made a great halftime coach in Joshua 24 and 15 we read it as a text in Joshua 24 and 15 the children of God have escaped Egypt they've conquered the promised land and now they're living free and fancy they're living free and easy and as a matter of fact they're living so easy that many no longer see the need for a delivering God in the first half performance in the promised land is quite poor the fact that God brought them through the wilderness and God led them out of Egypt and God miraculously brought him food to eat every day of the weekend and God even sent quail when they when they whined about the man of God sent quail in blue and a wind brought quail in for them to eat and meet and guard said Oh river of she depart so they can walk through when God did all these miraculous things they thought they needed God but somehow when they got to live and easy when they got to living in cities they didn't build when they got to live in behind walls they didn't build when they got to living in Xenia with vineyards they did not plant all the sudden they started a whoring after other gods and so Joshua the halftime kocha walks into the locker room in verse 15 and he says this he says and if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord choose this day whom you're gonna serve whether the gods of your father's served in the region beyond the river or the gods of the amorite in whose land you dwell he said but asks from me in my house we will serve the Lord I want you to envision this in your mind's eye it's halftime and coach Joshua is giving his team a plan he's going over some X in Oz with them but he's given them the decision he's not telling they got to do anything he's just simply saying if you do this then this is gonna happen and if you do that then that's gonna happen in the very first thing he says he says if it seemed evil to serve the Lord or maybe I should say it like this if it's too politically incorrect go ahead and make your choice listen we are not trying to be politically correct there is righteousness and there is sin you can't leave it up to a person you can't let a person decide what is right and what is wrong political correctness means that you allow people to make their own personal choices of how they feel but God's Word makes every decision in the kingdom of God to the people of God it is not man's ideas or man's philosophies but it is up to the Word of God to state what is right and what is wrong you may be seated who are not here tonight to determine right and wrong our opinion does not matter there's only one opinion that matters and that's the author of the book so coach Joshua he gives a second choice for the name he says choose this day whom you'll serve whether the guys that your father's served in the region beyond the river traditions those guys at your father's man the tradition of men he said you know what it's half time and you can very well continue with the tradition of men he said will you do it is that what you're made up of because a man-made form of religion man-made form of relationship is called religion he said if all you want is religion that's man-made there's no relationship within religion it's all a man-made tradition and let me tell you something Joshua was told I said it didn't work out so well with your father's did it I know that there was ground that opened up and swallows some of y'all some of y'all's daddy swallowed them right into the earth it didn't work out real well with your father's and so coach Joshua said you know what you can follow traditions oh yes you can you can go with political correctness oh yes you can and then the third choice he said or will you serve the gods of the amorite sand whose land you twelve that's the belief system of your neighbors the belief system of the society that you live in I'm talking about news media I'm talking about will you hang on every lie that the fake news stations are trying to plant into your mind will you allow this present world to indoctrinate you with their ways and their thoughts and their sin will you allow Hollywood to raise your children will you around Nashville to entertain your teenagers Joshua at half time was saying I got some questions for you son I've got some questions I need to ask you I'm not gonna beat you over the head with truth but I've got some questions for you because hard questions demand hard answers you may be seated but Joshua said but I'm telling you how I'm walking out of this locker room asks for me in my house asked for me and my children asks for me and my lovely wife I'll tell you what we're gonna do we're gonna come back in the second half and make the first half oh my god the devil thought he had me but Jesus came in granny the devil thought he had one just because he has a higher score on the scoreboard but let me tell you something if you make the right choice ah if you can say yes for me and my house we choose to follow the exes in the halls that are found in this word we're gonna serve the God of this Bible hassle me at my house listen and let me tell you something we all have to make halftime adjustments I don't care who you are I don't care if you're ahead or you're behind I don't care if you've got more points than the opposing team anata if you walked out of the locker room and you don't know who you are and you don't know what plays you're about to play let me tell you something you will be defeated by the enemy but if you can walk out of the locker room and say ass up right now I make a decision right now I will serve the Lord you may be seated I'm almost done musicians if you'll come 20:20 has been a year of hardships and strife so far but let me tell you something we cannot live the second half like we have the first F I'm sorry we can't go back to all this quarantine listen I believe in following all all the medical what they're trying to tell us in all this but listen there's a lot of things that are circulating as I there's a lot of people saying that you'll never hear the word cold in 19 the day after the election they said as soon as the election is over with all that's gonna go out the window a lot of things that are happening our streets are gonna go out the window as soon as there's an election if somebody is elected into the presidency I don't know I can't tell you I'm not smart enough to know the difference but what I can say is this I refuse to go back to what I used to be I may not be able to fix what our government does I may not be able to fetch huh I may not be able to fix what's happening on city streets but I can't fix me I can't make decisions they will affect me just remain standing and staying with me if you're not already standing up I've been reading a lot of John Maxwell I wish I'd come up with some of this stuff but John Max was blessed me in some of these quotes he said life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it you come too late to tell me that your parents not being in church means that you got a backside you come too late [name redacted] were you at spike you made us sing [name redacted] and she's already proved to me you come too late to tell me that you can't do it you can't do it it doesn't matter what state your parents are in you can if you want to I see you coming [name redacted] it whatever stay listen if you really put your heart to it don't allow the 10% to dictate the 90% but say I choose to respond in my half time up in a way that brings me dead tree in the second half they're not like this when a man must be big enough to admit his mistakes smart enough to profit from them and strong enough to correct them our man must be big enough to admit his mistakes and we've all gotten he's got to be smart enough to learn from those mistakes and he's gonna be strong enough to correct those mistakes it's not enough to just know you got an issue I'm trying y'all I know I know I've got to lose weight I'm trying you don't have to tell me don't pull me aside and tell me I've got to change my eating habits I know my top three foods peanut butter donuts and bread you could take everything else away all right I've got ignorant but I'm not dumb okay but there's a difference in no mean I've got to change and being strong enough to realize I've got to cut it on my diet I gotta get rid of it gotta make a change and one more if you don't change the direction you're going then you'll likely end up where you're heading say what was huh if you don't change the direction you're going you're gonna end up in a place I've come too far to give up now mother Hammond we've had too many practices your boys have been in 6:00 a.m. been lifting weights in the weight room eating a special diet they didn't want to eat to come to the championship game and give up at halftime we've come way too far look over your life comes somebody saw you on my something you something you've been in this longer than I've been alive and you're contemplating giving up at halftime my word are you are you gonna be able to live with yourself to think of all the years that you walk the walk and at halftime you just threw your Gatorade bottle on the ground and stomped out of the locker room there's a new term that I started using it's called failing forward failing not falling although there is a fall failing forward is the ability to get back up after you've been knocked down learn from your mistake and move forward in the right direction what's the song saying one of my favorite songs the difference between a saint a sinner as a saint gets back up again right you always get back up one more time than you fall and I love this thought because it's simply this we are gonna fall we are gonna mess up we are flesh there's coming a day when we're not gonna mess up there's coming today and these mortal bottles will take on immortality and all that will be gone but dear God in heaven if we're gonna fail let's failed towards the direction we're trying to get to if we're gonna fall let's fall in the direction don't fall back fall forward so it's half time close your eyes with me and bow your heads what are you gonna do in your half time what do you want your second to look like I don't even know how much you may be down by but let me tell you something there I began to read and study stories of of NFL games where they were down by three and four and and maybe even five scores and somehow a team got it together at halftime and they came fighting back and they won the victory it may not have been a championship it may not have been the Super Bowl it might have just been a good old game one of the season games but they fought with everything they had because they understood if I'm gonna get to the Super Bowl I've gotta win the game that I'm playing right now if I'm gonna get on my shuttle Quora baha somewhere along the way we gotta ask ourselves the question oh we can allow our second half to be the same as our first half and I say not I I refuse ha I've got a whole lot more work to do I've got a whole lot more to improve but let me tell you something Philippians 3 we read it brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind I reach forth up unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize is the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus you think I'm standing here satisfied with my first pepper no way I'm not satisfied I refuse to be satisfied until I walk through pearly gates huh until I want streets of gold I refuse to be satisfied but I want to do greater things for tada I want to win more Souls I want to read some more people I'm not satisfied I want my second half to be a half of the comeback I want the second half to be the hassle to come back I press toward the mark I press toward the mark I fail I say oh but I get up again but I get up again I know something do things that I don't want to do but I get back up again and I keep on failing forward god help us on I believe in for every particle that's in this place tonight I'm believing it'll be something inside of you that rises up something inside Allah says huh yes my house we're gonna press toward the mark as for me and my children we're gonna keep on pressing we're gonna keep on pressing we're gonna keep pressing keep up